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The devastating floods that killed more than 220 people in Spain have delivered a stark warning on how official blunders can cause the failure of disaster alert systems in an era of hard-to-predict catastrophes. As a reckoning continues over mismanagement of the October disaster, criticism is being heaped on the Valencia regional government, which failed

When Donald Trump returns to Washington on Wednesday, the president-elect will receive a hero’s welcome from fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill. “We are going to raise an ‘America First’ banner above this place,” Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters on the steps of the US Capitol this week. “This leadership will hit

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The writer is a science commentator The conversation about whether AI will attain or supersede human intelligence is usually framed as one of existential risk to Homo sapiens. A robot army rising up, Frankenstein-style, and

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world The writer is a professor at Georgetown University and a senior adviser with The Asia Group. He served on the US National Security Council staff from 2009-2015 No one knows what the future

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he would nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be his secretary of defence and former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe to be director of the CIA, as he tapped hardliners and loyalists to his national security and foreign policy teams. Hegseth, a 44-year-old army veteran who has no

Volkswagen has earmarked a further $800mn for its partnership with electric vehicle start-up Rivian, as Europe’s largest carmaker bets that modern software will help slow falling sales. The two carmakers on Tuesday said their joint venture, which was announced in the summer, would be led jointly by representatives from both companies: Rivian’s chief software officer, Wassym Bensaid, and VW’s

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump has named Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “department of government efficiency”, giving the two private-sector entrepreneurs charge of a promised effort to slash rules, bureaucracy and spending throughout

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK financial regulation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will on Thursday call for an overhaul of the UK system for consumer redress in the financial services sector, as lenders brace for a potential multibillion-pound bill for alleged mis-selling of

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump is considering appointing antitrust officials who may press on with the Biden administration’s crackdown on Big Tech’s market power, in what would represent a break with the Republican party’s traditionally business-friendly

Donald Trump has signalled a tough new stance on China with hawkish appointments to top foreign policy roles, according to experts in Washington, as the president-elect races to fill his most important cabinet roles. Trump on Tuesday named Mike Waltz, a Florida congressman and former Green Beret who has called China an “existential” threat, as

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Wall Street investors Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick are the leading contenders to be Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary after hedge fund billionaire John Paulson dropped out of the race for the job. Paulson

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world European stocks tumbled and currencies slid against the dollar on Tuesday as investors fretted over the impact of a more hawkish approach to China under a second Trump presidency. The benchmark Stoxx Europe

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world A frozen trade dispute over steel has become an early test of the EU’s relationship with the incoming Trump administration, with a senior US official saying Brussels should consider postponing plans for March

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump’s “hush money” case has been paused while a Manhattan judge considers the “unprecedented circumstances” of his election as US president while awaiting sentencing that had been set for later this month.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. To think that two and two are four / And neither five nor three / The heart of man has long been sore / And long ‘tis like to be. A.E. Housman. In 1810, 81

This article is an on-site version of our Chris Giles on Central Banks newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Tuesday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters Two days after the US election last week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Western and Arab diplomats have condemned comments by Israel’s far-right finance minister suggesting that the country will look to annex the occupied West Bank next year in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election as US

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have signalled they remain committed to de-escalation with Iran as they prepare for the return of Donald Trump, hoping he can end a year of war in the Middle East but wary his unpredictability could inflame tensions further. Leaders like Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were among Trump’s

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer resisted the call for more public finance to deal with climate change, saying it “on its own will not be enough” and pressed for a greater contribution from the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Germany will hold snap elections on February 23, under a new plan agreed on Tuesday between Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the centre-right opposition. Under the deal, Scholz will table a confidence vote in